


The Dreamer

by punwitch



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Non-Graphic Violence, Spoilers - Neutral Route, Spoilers - No Mercy Route, Spoilers - Pacifist Route, Trans Asriel (directly referenced), Trans Undyne (mentioned)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-06
Updated: 2015-12-06
Packaged: 2018-05-05 06:42:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5365244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/punwitch/pseuds/punwitch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Frisk returns to the ruins, weeks after the barrier came down. There they find Asriel again, who is fluctuating between normal form and Flowey and is losing hope.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Dreamer

Faint sunlight shined on yellow flowers as the sound of dripping water echoed through the ruins. A small form sat in a corner in the dark. Tears dripped down white furred cheeks and onto a green and yellow striped shirt. Further into the ruins, footsteps echoed. The fuzzy faced youngster wiped his snout and shook his head, ears bouncing. He hopped up and rushed into the light.

“Frisk, why do you keep coming back here?” Asriel said, “my form keeps shifting back and forth and I don't want you to see me… as that thing ever again.”

The footsteps stopped but presence in the doorway didn't answer. For a few moments fear replaced sadness. Nightmares of other timelines streaked across Asriel's mind, memories of red eyes glinting and hands covered in dust. But no, that hadn't happened. The potential had never been met. Their old friend was at peace. And Frisk was safe. Even so Asriel backed out of the light, hands shaking.

“Frisk…?”

“Sorry,” a voice said from the dark, “it was hard to remember how to get back down here.”

“Frisk!”

Asriel rushed to the doorway at the same time as Frisk, brown hair flying, wearing a blue shirt and jeans, came rushing into the light too. They both embraced, arms gripping tight, tears flowing.

“You shouldn't be here,” Asriel said with a sob, “I miss you but you shouldn't. I'm afraid of what I'll do when I'm in the flower form.”

“We still don't know if that's permanent,” Frisk said with a stern look, “you keep fluctuating back and forth, especially when I visit, if you'd just let me tell Alphys-”

“NO,” Asriel said, “no… you don't understand, I can't… I can't have any of them back here. If no one is near, I can't hurt anyone.”

Frisk frowned at their friend.

“I deserve to be alone,” Asriel whispered.

“No one deserves that,” Frisk said, “maybe if Alphys looked at you, figured out if the residue of the human souls remained, you could avoid the transformation.”

Asriel pulled away and stood in the light, staring upwards. He shook his head and started to walk away into the dark. Frisk blinked, looking disorientated for a moment.

“I promised to save you,” they said, their voice sounding distant.

“You did save me,” Asriel said turning around, “from myself, from the path I took. You saved my closest friend too. You showed them peace. When I tried to turn you both into killers. Like me.”

“Asriel, I,” Frisk held their hands to their chest and a red glow pulsed.

“NO,” Asriel sprinted and grabbed hold of Frisk's hands, “you will not make that sort of sacrifice for me! Not ever.”

“No, it's something else,” Frisk shook, “Asriel, I'm scared. But I know, deep in my soul, that I need to do this.”

“Wait,” Asriel begged, “Frisk stop!”

A vibration and sparkling light filled the cave. Asriel watched, helpless to intervene, as Frisk's soul rose above their body. Energy poured from it and then the red glow of the determined heart faded to normal. It dropped back into Frisk's chest and they blinked their eyes, fallen to the ground under a red fog.

“Frisk!” Asriel pulled them up and held them close.

“I'm okay I think,” Frisk said in a shaken voice, “I… oh god.”

Asriel looked in the direction of Frisk's widened eyes and gaped.

The fog had pulled together, all the colors of every soul Asriel had ever seen, even the grey of monsters, flowing through it. It took shape and form, a robe made of ever changing symbols and a mask with a single eye opening on one side. The symbols were strange. Some seemed to be circles and others seemed like pillars or lines but they fluctuated so fast that neither Frisk nor Asriel could fully be sure what they were. And in the fluctuations, other symbols appeared. For a moment both felt that the robe didn't even exist, that the symbols were, somehow, creating it. Giving it form. One arm raised and a flat translucent tablet appeared before it. A collection of letters and numbers showed themselves on it in five lines. It was hard to make them out from the angle, they appeared to be backwards from Asriel's point of view. Fingers made of swarms of tiny glyphs rapidly danced over the flat surface. And strangely, words appeared in the air by the being's head, preceded by a blinking line

**do not be afraid_**

“Who… what are you?” Asriel asked, holding on to the semi conscious Frisk.

**i am the one who guided the determined one_**

Asriel shouted in fear and pulled Frisk away from the apparition, scrambling for a weapon. For a few moments the power of Flowey rose as temptation but Asriel pushed it down. Frisk could just as easily be killed by the lashing vines and petal bullets of that form and Asriel wasn't sure if it would even be enough. The faint light in the eyehole glowed a bright green and the being tilted their head to the side as if in confusion. The mask shimmered for a moment and a  **:o** appeared on it in the center.

**i am not your old friend. we shared space within frisk's soul_**

“But you… the other timelines... my friend's rage,” Asriel shook his head, “I don't understand, what are you?”

**i am the demon who comes when their name is called_**

Asriel held onto Frisk. To have it all end here, after everything they had gone through. It was so unfair. But no attack came. The being merely continued to speak in written word.

**my kind are called to worlds by name, sometimes as saviours, sometimes not, but always bringing terrible destruction and death. we fancy ourselves heroes** **but we** **play with lives** **and leave pain behind us** **_**

Their mask changed its display to **:(**

_Almost like a frowning face_ ,Asriel thought

“You were called here?” he said, incredulous, “by who?”

**your fallen friend called me, awakened by the determination of one with similar soul. feeling nothing but pain** **and a need for revenge** **.** **but** **within frisk** **we both** **discovered that** **we** **had a choice_**

The apparition spread its arms.

**that no one need die_**

Asriel blinked away tears.

“You can save everyone if you love hard enough,” Frisk said finally looking alert.

“Not me,” Asriel said, “not fully.”

**even you_**

“How?” Asriel said, face screwed up with bitterness, “I can barely hold myself together. I become a flower now more every day. And I refuse to take anyone's soul to become whole.”

**there are ways_**

The being's eye changed again and projected a fierce purple light. From the light another translucent tablet appeared, on it was a depiction of a scroll. The glowing light of the eye resolved itself into a projection of an arrow and rested over the icon. The being hesitated. Their fingers danced yet again over the words tablet, with blinding speed.

**if we do this, there is no going back. asriel, this could grant you the opportunity to follow your dreams. you could explore entire worlds, live as yourself, you could have the form you truly want_**

“You mean not being a flower,” Asriel said in a choked tones.

“I think they mean you could be a girl,” Frisk said, “without help from the other monsters magic like Undyne had to get.”

“I don't… haha what are you talking about?” Asriel looked away, embarrassed.

“Come on, your battleform was an obvious giveaway with how much you looked like Toriel,” Frisk snorted and then turned to the floating being, “besides, if Asriel feels like a girl, body doesn't matter. You're just saying you'll give… them the power to change their body if they want it?”

**the power to do many things, that included_**

“At what cost, though, you said there would be a great one,” Asriel whispered, afraid to feel hope.

**the timeline cannot support you or the changes i would create. it could unmake this world. you would have to become a traveler, exploring other worlds. you would have to leave this place behind_**

“What about… her...” Frisk said. Asriel nodded at the pronoun and they continued, “her old friend? What about them?”

**i do not know how the afterlife would be. but you can return here in death. i am sure they will wait for you_**

Asriel and Frisk looked at each other. An unspoken conversation seemed to go on between them. Finally she hugged Frisk tightly and turned to the apparition. Determination filled her features.

“Frisk, please… take care of my mother and father. And your skeleton friends and Alphys and Undyne,” she laughed, “I didn't realize you could even be girl if you were molded to be a boy as a monster.”

“Oh no I outed Undyne,” Frisk said in sudden horror, “I'll have to make her spaghetti to apologize.”

Asriel raised an eyebrow at them and then turned to the The Traveler.

“I am ready.”

The being nodded and the light quality changed again, this time an orange hue. The arrow appeared to depress onto the text and the translucent screen glowed with new words.

OPENING FILE FANFIC.TXT

INITIATING SOULGENERATOR

Rainbows of color exploded out of the screen and wrapped around Asriel's tiny form, lifting her up into the air. In front of her a heart formed. It was striped with every color. Green, yellow, orange, red, purple, blue and teal glowed off it. A new soul. A soul that was neither human nor monster. Or maybe both. It had tiny grey wings that fluttered in the air. The energies swirled around her too and her physical form shifted for a moment, becoming fluid and changing her clothing with it. A robe much like Toriel's grew on her from her shirt and pants and she shimmered back into being. Asriel settled back to the ground, holding the pulsing rainbow heart in her hands.

“It's beautiful,” she said.

“You barely changed at all,” Frisk said with a grin.

“You said it yourself, I'm already a girl,” Asriel laughed, “I just made sure I'd never get a scritchy annoying beard like my dad.”

Behind her a vast roaring whirlpool of rainbow lights opened, widening to a tunnel. As they stared into it, the rainbow heart absorbed into Asriel's chest. They both turned back to The Traveler.

**it is done. you must enter that portal to continue_**

“I… guess this is goodbye, for real this time,” Asriel said sniffling.

“I'll always remember you,” Frisk said, “promise you'll never forget me?”

“Not even a reset will make me forget you,” Asriel promised.

They hugged again and The Traveler guided her to the edge of the portal. Asriel looked back one more time to Frisk waving and her eyes opened wide. Toriel and Sans were standing in the doorway of the Ruins, frozen in shock. Nothing to be done about it. She smiled and waved.

“Send my love to dad!” she shouted.  

She turning around and entered the portal as Frisk scrambled onto their feet. The rainbow gateway snapped shut with a boom and a rush of air. The being turned around, its ideogram swarm body moving unnaturally. Sans pushed Toriel behind him as his eye flickered with colors. Bones began to tear their way out of the ground, several forming a barrier between Frisk and the Traveler.

“Kid, get down!”

“Wait, Sans, wait!” Frisk yelled.

Blue light soaked into the Traveler and they sunk to the ground as thousands of bones tore up into them. Four massive elongated skulls floated above Sans and fired white beams straight into the apparition. Smoke and rubble flew into the air. Frisk ran out from under the bone shield, in front of Sans and held their hands out, blocking any further firing. The skulls hummed and Toriel looked rapidly from Sans to Frisk to the dust cloud, confusion and worry twisting her features.

“Get out of the way kid,” Sans said, sweat building on his smooth foreskull.

“Sans why,” Toriel said trying to get her breath back, “was that my son? What is happening?”

“Your daughter actually,” Frisk said, “she's, you know, I don't know what the monster version of transgender is.”

“I… what?” Toriel blinked.

“Frisk move,” Sans said, “you can't solve every fight with hugs. That's the anomaly! It will kill you! It'll kill all of us! It already has many times!”

More of the floating skulls were rising, eyes glowing. Bones grew out of the ground and began to spin around the smoke cloud. But the apparition rose anyways, shedding blue magic off it like water. Their eye had turned completely black with a single glowing red slit down the center and they had sprouted more arms. The fingers of each arm had elongated to massive claws, upon which red glyphs writhed. Multiple icons had also appeared on their white mask.

**D: <**

Frisk wasn't sure what they meant but they looked frightening glowing red like that. A shrieking noise came from the Traveler and red sparks built up between each claw, as crackling bolts of crimson lightning struck the ground around it. The hum increased, Sans sweated more and the skulls opened their mouths wide. Only Toriel didn't ready for combat, her eyes on Frisk, the question obvious.

“No! Everyone stop! The floating being saved Asriel! They gave her a soul and a way out of a world she no longer belonged in!” Frisk shouted, turning around wildly between the two sides, “And you! You said you wouldn't kill anymore! You said you learned from me, you learned love! You learned that no one has to die!”

For one terrifying moment Frisk thought all hell would break lose.

“Please,” they begged, “no one has to die.”

The Traveler's mask's symbols changed to a  **:(** and their eye glowed aqua as their claws shrunk into fingers.

_Oh_ , Frisk thought, _it_ _is_ _like a face._

“I hope you know what you're doing, kid,” Sans said in a shaky voice. The bones retracted into the ground and the floating skulls pulled back.

“That thing,” Sans pointed, “has wiped entire timelines from existence. Entire worlds. And would've used you to do it too. It's the anomaly.”

**what you say is not wrong_**

Sans sweated harder while Toriel looked horrified. Flame sparked around her fingers for just a moment but her eyes met Frisk's and she let them gutter out. She mouthed the words I trust you.

“But they learned better. I showed them and I showed...” Frisk trailed off, deciding not to give Toriel two of her dead children to think about today, “I showed this being that you can save everyone, that no one needs to die.”

**what frisk says is also correct_**

“And they gave Asriel a second chance,” Frisk said.

“My s… my daughter is alive then?” Toriel said, “this being gave my child back h… her life?”

Frisk nodded.

“I thank you then, if you gave my child back what was lost, regardless of your past deeds, there must be good in you,”

Toriel placed a restraining hand on the shaking Sans. He looked up at her and shrugged, dismissing all of the skulls with a single wave of his hand. His eyes went back to normal. The being nodded. Their face changed to a **:)** and they held up translucent screen with a single red X in it.

**i must leave. i made a promise never to touch the timeline here again.** **to never risk your achievements and this love we have protected** **_**

“Wait,” Sans reached out a hand, “you're from outside timelines, right?”

He seemed to falter and Toriel squeezed her hand on his shoulder and nodded to him.

“Can you tell me anything of W.D. Gaster?”

The being's face changed to a **:/**

**my kind is not infallible. i know only that he exists. Somewhere_**

Sans sighed and nodded. Toriel hugged him and then swept Frisk into the same hug.

**as much as i hate to leave you all... sans information... i must go_**

Sans and Toriel both blinked as the Traveler's facemask showed a **;)** and their eye flashed green. Frisk gave a mock groan and they all started shaking with laughter. The tension was broken. Frisk waved goodbye with Toriel and Sans behind them. The being guided the arrow to the red x. A clicking sound entered the cavern and The Traveler disappeared.

“We came down here to get you,” Toriel said, “I was worried when you didn't show up to school today.”

“Glad we followed up though, kid,” Sans said, “and sorry about losing it there. Hate to have you see me like that...”

Frisk smiled at them and walked over to the light pillar and began arranging the flowers that had been stirred up by the fight.

“We'll wait outside and give you a moment,” Toriel said.

“Thank you,” Frisk said while wiping their eyes.

They looked up into the light filtering down into the cavern. Remembering when they first fell. Remembering what it felt like to die. What it felt like to fight. How it felt when they saved everyone. And now the last one had been saved. Somewhere Asriel was flying, her dreams coming true on rainbow wings. 

The Dreamer was free.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> pssst hey The Traveler is YOU


End file.
